Criminal Cases

Our Specialty

Criminal Investigations

Whether you've been accused of a crime, or need help solving one, it's important to work with investigators who understand not only Texas criminal law, but also the policies, procedures, and techniques used by professional law enforcement.

As former criminal investigators, we have applied these policies, procedures and techniques while working on crimes ranging from minor theft to capital murder. In fact, as licensed law enforcement instructors, we have taught these techniques to police officers. This experience allows us to review cases in great detail to ensure that professional standards were followed every step of the way. For example, the issue and execution of search warrants, consensual searches, interviews/interrogations, the collection of crime scene evidence, DNA testing procedures, and the process of identifying suspects; these, and many other aspects of an investigation must be conducted in a specific way in order to hold up in court. We can help your attorney identify where proper procedure was not followed, and articulate the logic for invalidating the suspect evidence.

If you are accused:

Law enforcement officers and investigators are human, and sometimes they make mistakes. When those mistakes lead to the wrong person being charged with a crime, however, the best opportunity to correct it is to conduct an independent investigation.

You have the right to conduct an independent investigation to support your defense, and it is particularly important to do this at the pre-trial stage. If you go to trial without conducting your own investigation, the jury/judge will be relying solely on the information being provided by the state, which is actively trying to prosecute you. By engaging licensed and experienced investigators at the pre-trial stage, you'll give yourself the best opportunity to challenge the state's evidence, discover new evidence, and successfully defend yourself against the charges. An independent investigation will also help identify and preserve error if you are convicted and the case goes to appeal. Any good defense attorney will tell you that, short of an acquittal, preserving error for an appeal is the most important achievement at trial.

Our investigation of your case will be completely separate from that of law enforcement, but will follow many of the same procedures. We will review the evidence, interview witnesses, and try to identify suspects. In this way, we will provide an objective counter-investigation that searches for the truth, as opposed to seeking a prosecution. In other words, because we lack the crime-fighting agenda of the police, we are better able to provide an objective analysis of the evidence.

As an example, in a recent case where a man was accused of murdering a woman he had just met, we discovered evidence in crime scene photos that proved two people had moved the victim's body. We also uncovered evidence establishing a motive for two other people, and also provided evidence that the murder was committed by a woman. This new evidence convinced the state that they had the wrong man, and his charges were dropped.

The best news of all, is that you may not have to pay for our services. Your attorney can request investigative services from the court. With a reasonable explanation as to why the services are needed, the judge will often grant the request, including a request for forensic services.

If you need a crime solved:

It may surprise people to know how few serious crimes are ever solved. Usually this is due to a lack of evidence, which prevents prosecutors from charging a suspect with the crime. Invariably, when these cases are looked at years later, we often find plenty of information pointing to a particular suspect, but investigators were unable to stitch it together.

If you, or a member of your family, were victims of a serious crime, a private investigator may be the best way to achieve justice. In many ways, a private investigator is not bound by the same rules that police are. We work ethically, within the framework of the law, but we also can use technology and creative schemes to gain access to information that would be impossible for the police. Private investigation can often open doors for the police by providing information that they can act on.

Remember that time matters. Every day, week, month or year that passes after a serious crime makes it that much harder to solve. There is a big difference between working a fresh, active case, and one that has languished for ten years. We've worked plenty of cold cases, however, some of them decades old. Cold cases require a different mindset and a broader set of skills, as witnesses disappear, evidence is destroyed or lost, and memories fade. Our success with cold cases comes from our persistence and attention to every detail.

In another example, we investigated the 14-year-old case of a woman murdered in Texas. No one was ever charged with the crime, despite the local agency's investigation, follow-on investigations by the Texas Rangers, and help from the FBI. Nevertheless, our investigation discovered a key witness, and developed a timeline that put the primary suspect with the victim immediately prior to her disappearance. The case is currently being considered by the District Attorney, but we are confident our investigation will lead to charges being filed against the suspect.

Our Resources

In addition to our experience, we also have access to a laundry list of expert services for a complete analysis of the evidence, such as DNA testing, polygraphs, blood spatter analysis, forensic computer analysis, photogrammetry, firearm analysis, forensic hypnosis and more.